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Big Bill Morganfield Ramblin' Mind (Blind Pig...

February 25, 2001|By Steve Knopper.

Big Bill Morganfield

Ramblin' Mind (Blind Pig)

Though it's unfair to compare Big Bill Morganfield to his father, blues legend McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield, the Atlanta singer-guitarist has clearly inherited more of the family mojo than, say, Julian Lennon or Jakob Dylan. Where his superb 1999 debut showcased veterans of Waters' Chicago band, "Ramblin' Mind" broadens the palette with jazz and Mississippi Delta blues -- but as the macho stomper "Roll With Me" suggests, he'll never step away completely from the Hoochie Coochie Man. Morganfield sounds more at home than ever in his deep, Muddy-like voice, and when gravelly Taj Mahal guests on the spooked "Strong Man Holler," it's eerie, as if his father and Howlin' Wolf had never left.